Giants Place Johnny Cueto On DL, Activate Madison Bumgarner

4:52pm: The Giants have placed Cueto on the 10-day DL, Shea tweets. It’s still possible Cueto could make it back before the non-waiver deadline, of course, but his presence on the DL with further complicate any attempt on the Giants’ part to trade him, particularly if he stays there long. His DL placement will make room for the activation of ace Madison Bumgarner, who hasn’t pitched since April 19 after injuring his shoulder in a dirt bike accident. Bumgarner will make his long-awaited return to San Francisco’s rotation Saturday.

9:34am: Giants righty Johnny Cueto is dealing with blister issues and could miss his next start, as various reporters, including John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle, have noted. Cueto pitched just four innings in his start against the Padres last night, throwing 82 pitches, then had tape on his index finger, middle finger and thumb after the game.

“It feels like they’re cut,” Cueto said, suggesting that a tighter texture of the baseballs this year as compared to last might be to blame for the problem. Various pitchers have commented on the textures of the baseballs this season.

“I think the best thing for me to do is take some time off,” says Cueto. “I can’t tell you whether or not I’m going to skip (my next start). It depends on how I feel. Right now, it feels bad.”

Missing a start this close to the non-waiver trade deadline could, of course, affect Cueto’s trade market, which was already complicated due to a variety of factors. (There have been few recent indications that the Giants are looking to trade Cueto despite their 35-56 record this year, although it stands to reason they would at least be open to making a deal under the right circumstances.) Cueto hasn’t been outstanding this season, with a 4.59 ERA, 8.0 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 over 115 2/3 innings. And while his current deal calls for him to be paid $21MM per year through 2021, plus a $5MM buyout on a $22MM option for 2022, he can opt out of the deal after this season and collect the $5MM buyout while becoming a free agent. He’ll also receive a $500K assignment bonus if he’s traded. Those factors make Cueto’s value “lower than a rental’s,” as one GM told FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal even before the blister issues emerged.

There have been numerous suggestions from rather reputable sources, in the game and out, to suggest both physically and statistically that the composition of baseballs has been different since at least the start of 2016. Manfred has refuted all claims.

They should change it back. Last thing we need is Rich Hill clones everywhere. And also is this the cause of increased offense? I have noticed mare games like 16-14 and stuff like that. I would take 3-2 any day.

There has been pretty impressive testing by the staff at the Ringer in which they purchased hundreds of older balls from eBay and compared them with the new balls, shooting them out of cannons and such to measure things like drag coefficient and resistance. They also measured the seams and found that, yes, the seams are wound more tightly this year, and the balls are flying farther than older ones in every test they have run.

Pitchers, like Verlander and Cueto, are trying to compensate for the lower seams by gripping the balls more tightly, which is leading to blister issues as well as less effectiveness – it’s gotta be hard for a guy like Verlander who has pitched forever with the regular baseball to adapt this late in his career to a ball so different.

And of course, a more-tightly would baseball flies farther, so that helps explain the home run surge; it’s not all launch angle, although that’s part of it.

The increase of the pitcher’s velocity over 60′-6″ would be more than compensated for the increased velocity of the batted ball over 300′. And major league hitters aren’t going to be hampered much by an extra mile per hour on the pitch, if that much. The bigger issue is that the seams are what make breaking balls break. Straighter pitches at a slight increase in velocity are going to favor the hitter way beyond any help to the pitcher. In fact, that is exactly what the problem is with Coor’s Field, The ball doesn’t break as much there and the thinner air leads to more velocity/carry of the batted ball.

You guys know that launc angle and exit velocity are actually measurable, and have been for the last year thanks to the statcast technology installed in every MLB stadium. The information was proprietary last season but this year some of it has been released to the public.

Players and hitting coaches had access to that data last season, worked to improve swing plane because of it this year, and that, along with the change in ball, has led to the explosion in offense. Now we have access to it and it’s certainly legitimate.

From all research done on the balls this year, they are seams are tighter and not raised as much as in the past. The commissioner says they meet specifications.. A lot of pitchers are getting blisters so the ball has changed. Add to that the increased amount of homers and everything points to juiced ball. Fans want to see more homers, the tighter the seems the less resistance in the air. This might also increase the speed on the pitchers fastball.

If Elsbury waived his no trade and Yanks kicked in a few 20-30 range prospects like Jake Cave and Deitrich Emms maybe they can work a deal for Cueto this way not selling the farm and freeing up an outfield spot plus adding to rotation thus letting Adams continue to develop. But that’s not happening because Elsbury 80 million left is not desirable even for San Fran that can obviously use an upgrade in the outfield who can lead off. As far as Yanks go Cueto has pitched pretty bad this year and it’s a flyer that he returns to last year production and maybe opts out.

Yeah that contract is going to be on their books until it’s expired. Luckily for your Yankees they made some great moves. They have young stars in the making that aren’t set to cash in for quite a few years. Factor in the teams financial power they’ll be fine. Yankees are close to another dynasty with our without that horrible contract. They’ll have to unload some prospects and spend some money on pitching and they’ll be dominate

Agreed, and they could also use a third basemen short term in Headley. Giants like to get established players so it might work I also think Gardner and Headley are a match. with the Giants and Gardner to the Dodgers.

I’m sure the Giants would love Headley, Ellsbury, or Gardner … five years ago. Giants have several prospects (Arroyo/Jones) at third, and are actively trying to trade Nunez, so Headley is useless. And the Giants have plenty of underperforming, 33 year old outfielders already so Ellsbury and Gardner aren’t appetizing either.

Agree with bluesky. Whatever team that trades for him will hope he pitches like an ace the rest of the season and in the playoffs. But of course if that happens he’ll likely opt out. If he pitches the way he has so far this season they’re stuck with the rest of his contract that he may not come close to living up to. They aren’t shopping him because they’re better off keeping him and letting him try to restore some value. Simply put to move him they wouldn’t get much and they’d have to eat a tremendous amount of money

That’s why he fits for the Yanks, they are still rebuilding and will try to move Ellsbury, Gardner, and Headley who all fit the Giants. The Yanks have young outfielders , and even if Cueto opts out it wouldn’t hurt them. They would have more money to spend on the rebuild and get pitching in the winter. If not they swap hitting for pitching.

What could hurt is he continues to stink and does not opt out, then whatever team holds his contract is stuck with him. This is what happened to the Dodgers with Kazmir. In the case of Cueto right now this is the Giants’ problem. It is difficult to imagine a scenario where inheriting this problem could be made attractive to another team.

Gardner might be a fit for the Giants, but I’m sure they have no desire to add either Ellsbury or Headley. The Giants have options at 3B, and they can certainly do better in the OF than taking on an aging and expensive Ellsbury. The Yanks have to face the fact that nobody would want Ellsbury unless the Yanks paid most of what he’s owed..

Different kinds of pitchers, different kind of pitches, different stuff. Verlander has talked about them too, and there’s hard evidence that the balls are different. You do know that not every pitcher throws every pitch the same way, right?